Times-Advocate, 1983-10-19, Page 22Page 22
Times -Advocate, October 19, 1983
GRADE 12 BEST — Shown with the grade 12 plaque as the best students in that
grade at SHDHS at Commencement Friday night are Karen Dauber, Deb Josephson,
James McDonnell and Tracy Ducharme. Missing was Fred Miller. T -A photo
4
A swamp, to most people, is
a foreboding place.
It smells primitive. The
muck has the feel, the look
and the smell of life evolving.
Buth without the wetlands,
the bogs and swamps, of this
country, the rest of the land
would soon be desert. When
we were kids in the Kawartha
Lakes country, the swamp
was a great place to play. We
would come home smelling as
primitive as the swamp but it
was a wonderful place to
learn about nature.
In the spring, of course, it
was alive with peepers. To the
outdoors person, nothing is
more welcome than the
swamp singers. It is the great
sign that the swamp has come
to life again after a winter of
quiet hibernation.
A hot summer such as this
year makes a swamp almost
seethe with life. Frogs, toads,
snakes, turtles, salamanders
and mud puppies abound.
:ane foot in the
lurrow' b7i�,
How many youngsters today
have examined the sluggish
mud puppy, so primitive it
can breathe through its gills,
its mouth, or even its skin?
Even the insects have a
primitive look in the swamp,
the dragonflies and the
damselflies. And how do you
know the difference? Old
Johnson Paudash, a Cree In-
dian, amazed a group of small
boys on a hike one day along
the banks of ti.e Scugog
River.
"Easy", he said. "The
dragonfly rests with wings
outspread. The damselfly
folds its wings over its back."
My mother tells the story of
how her sickly, two-year-old
son spent one summer stepp-
ing in and out of a half -rotten
punt hear a swamp off
Sturgeon Lake. The mos-
quitoes almost ate me alive.
"You could not put a pin-
point between the mosquito
bites," she said. "But they
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must have done something for
him. He never looked back."
The bites must have given
me some immunity because,
although mosquitoes light on
me, I never get a reaction,
never a mosquito bite. It was
playing near that swamp so
many years ago that did it.
It was in that same swamp
where I saw my first big, blue
heron with its stilt -like legs,
its long, serpentine neck, its
darting head and stiletto -like
beak. They look so stately in
shallow water and so clumsy
in the air.
My favorite swamp bird,
though, is the belted
kingfisher with his stubby
wings, his saucy voice and
that truculent crest, looking
every bit like he just got out
of bed and forgot to comb his
hair. It was Johnson Paudash
who explained to us, too, that
this saucy fellow has bifocal
eyes for seeing under water
as well as in the air.
"This place gets warmth
and heat from two places,"
said Chief Paudash. "It's
steamy because dead vegeta-
tion is simmering in the heat
of its own decay. It's a hotb-
edtoo, just like the
greenhouses where flowers
are grown, only this is nature's
own hotbed."
I have mentioned before
my love for the tamarack,
sometimes called
hackmatack or, more com-
monly, the larch. It is the on-
ly conifer that sheds its
needles in the fall. Maybe that
swampland along the Scugog
River, created when the
Trent Canal was created, that
gave me a lifelong love of the
tamarack. It is a beautiful
tree, trall and tapering. In the
spring, the gentle needles are
such a delicate green they ap-
pear misty. In the fall, the
needles change to a delicate
golden tan with a special
glow, like a giant candle, a
warm yellow -gold flame.
Well, yes. A swamp can
smell. It can stink. But it is a
marvellous place to watch
God in all His glory of
creation.
Centralia College of Agricultural Technology
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food
FALL CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS
A. LONGER TRAINING PROGRAMS
'NO CHAPGE TO REGIS t RANTS)
fi) ON CAMPUS COURSES
• INTRODUCTORY FUTURES MARKETING:
Huron Hall Nov. 2 - Jon. 18, Wednesday evenings 7.30 p.m.
(ii) OFF CAMPUS COURSES
• FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR FARMERS
1 Small Banquet Room Elma Memorial Community Centre. Atwood. Nov.
16 -Dec 7 Wednesdays. also Monday Dec 1 2 9 30-3 30
2 O M A. r Perth 4 13 Hibernia Stratford Nov 1 7 -Dec 1 5. Thursdays.
9 30-3 30
• SWINE MANAGEMENT
1 Kin Station. Binning St Listowel Nov 21 - Feb 13. Monday evenings.
730 pm
2 OMAF Perth. 4 1,i Hibernia Stratford Nov 22 -Feb 14, Tuesday even-
ings. 7 30 p m
B. OTHER PROGRAMS
(foe to registrants Indicated'
BOTH ON CAMPUS
• MICROWAVE COOKERY $10.00
with Deb Laskin -filch and Debbie Campbell
ONE DAY ON1_Y Saturday Nov 5, 9 30-3 30
• FOOD PROCESSOR COOKERY $10.00
with Debbie Campbell and Gwen Dykeman
ONE DAY ONt Y Saturday Nov 26 9 30-3 30
TO REGISTER FOR THESE COURSES:
Ontario
Ministry of
Agriculture
and Food
On -Campus Courses - phone Continuing Education,
Centralia Cullege 1228-6681)
Off Campus Courses - phone Centralia College or
your area OMAF Office.
The readers write
Provide roponses to MPP s and edlforlal comments
Dear Sir:
I was surprised to find
myself the subject of last
week's leading editorial. I had
no Idea the T -A had access to
mail directed to Town Coun-
cil, but would like to repeat
that I meant every word in
my letter. It would be easy to
sit quietly in my library while
the world goes by, but I will
always speak out on matters
I consider important
I believe it is important that
the town investigate the
feasability of installing traffic
lights at the corner of Main
and Wellington Streets. I'm
sure the appropriate Provin-
cial authorities could do a
survey and make recommen-
dations. Since the canning
factory is one of our busiest
enterprises, the corner is
equally busy; have you ever
tried to turn your car on to
Main at that corner? But the
main consideration is for the
children who use the cross-
ing; their safety must be a
concern of all, it is the respon-
sibility of all adults.
If that is a threat, as you
suggest, then so be it! I have
no quarrel with our town
representatives; I'm sure
they are fine individuals, but
those who seek and accept
elective office must be able to
listen to constructive
criticism and accept the con-
sequences of their decisions.
Of course Harry Truman said
it well - "If you can't stand the
heat - stay out of the
kitchen!"
Yours truly,
J.M. Gibson
¥ ¥ ¥
Dear Editor:
M.P.P. Jack Riddell's re-
cent article on Ontario Hydro
and nuclear energy raises a
lot of important issues but
leaves a number of gaps. I
would like the opportunity to
round out Mr. Riddell's
assessment so your readers
can make up their own minds.
His primary objection
seems to be that Hydro's com-
mitment to nuclear is costly
and unnecessary. Let's focus
on cost. Nuclear plants are
expensive to build, that's true.
But, once built, they are
almost inflation proof. In 1982,
the total unit energy cost
(operation, maintenance,
fuel, depreciation and finan-
cing charges) at Ontario
Hydro's nuclear plants
averaged 1.7 cents/kilowatt-
hour compared to 3.4
cents/kilowatt-hour for our
coal-fired generation. In fact,
the coal alone to fuel coal-
fired stations costs more than
the total unit energy cost of
nuclear -generated electricity.
The current shutdown of
Unit no. 2 at our Pickering
station is a case in point. It
has been widely reported that
it's costing $200,000 to $250,000
a day for replacement power
generated from coal. This
demonstrates quite clearly
the cost advantage of nuclear
generation. In fact, in the
decade or so that the Picker-
ing station has been in ser-
vice, it has saved Ontario
power consumers about $800
million that they would other-
wise have paid for coal-fired
capacity.
What about mothballing
coal stations and building
nuclear at the same time?
Like all facilities, coal sta-
tions wear out. Both the
Hearn and Keith stations are
over 30 years old and c ming
to the end of their economic
operating lifetime. Do we put
a lot of money into older
facilities, giving us band-aid
solutions for the present but
no security for the future? Or
do we continue with a pro-
gram that will ensure non-
polluting, reliable and
economical electricity into
the next century? For the
longer term, it's clear we
have to ensure energy securi-
ty. And Hydro's nuclear sta-
tions do just that.
That's not to say coal will
disappear from the picture.
Coal plants will still be used
to provide peaking power as
well as to serve as back-up
capacity should any of our
nuclear units be down as
Pickering's Unit n. 2 is now.
And we'll also continue to de-
pend on our hydro -electric
capacity for a significant por-
tion of the province's
electricity.
Mr. Riddell also refers to
Liberal leader David Peter-
son's call for a committee of
the Legislature to look into
Hydro's affairs - its rates, its
financial picture and its ac-
countability to the people it
serves. If the government
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